One Step at a Time
by Baka Gaijin30
Summary: Repost. Shoujoai pairing. Sylia is in trouble. Can her fellow Knight Sabers save her from... Herself? Sylia/Linna pairing.
1. Chapter 1

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

Sylia Stingray got off the elevator, took a deep breath, and slowly walked down the hall to the room. She was looking down, her head was throbbing and her hands were trembling. She looked up just in time to keep from bumping into Linna. The younger woman smiled at her, trying to hide the concern she felt for her friend and leader.

"Well Sylia, are you ready for this?"

Sylia took another deep breath as she nervously clutched at the strings of the purse she had hanging off her shoulder as if for support. "Ready as I'll ever be," she answered, managing to smile back.

---Five Days Ago---

Sylia was alone.

Again.

But then, ever since the rogue boomer incident that killed Nigel, she felt alone and lost even in a room full of people. She was tired and sore from the night's fight with the rogue boomer over at the mall, where Priss' absence forced her into action. All she wanted to do was go downstairs into her little mini bar and drink the loneliness and pain away. A slight smile appeared on her face as she thought of the sweet oblivion, the numbness, which momentarily awaited her. So much easier than dealing with messy things like pain, loss, or regret.

The elevator door opened, and Sylia was surprised to see her brother Mackie and Nene standing in front of the bar with Linna. Behind them stood Henderson and Priss, the singer's arm in a sling.

"What are you all doing here?" Sylia demanded, "The boomer was blown away an hour ago. Nene," she added as she eyed the blonde suspiciously, "I thought you and Mackie had a date."

Mackie looked at his sister sadly. Nene, looking down at the floor with her arms folded, spoke up. "Some things are more important than dates."

Sylia suddenly got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Such as?" she asked as she took a defensive stance with her hands on her hips.

"Such as this." Linna suddenly broke in as she held up one of Sylia's whiskey bottles in front of her.

"One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small," Priss sang out sarcastically, holding up several of Sylia's pill bottles, "And the one that mother gives you, don't do anything at all..."

Sylia's face suddenly turned red with anger. "What in the hell is this?"

"I believe," Henderson broke in, "that it's called an intervention, madam."

"A what?"

"Sis, we're worried about you," Mackie said. "Ever since Nigel passed away, it's like you've given up on life. Sure, you drank occasionally and took one too many pills before, but not like this."

"You're drinking yourself to death," Priss added. "And these pills we've found lying around here...Sylia, I grew up around street junkies who wouldn't mess with some of this shit. Valium, sleeping pills..."

"Priss," Sylia growled threateningly, her hands clenched and her whole body beginning to tense up, "I don't owe you, any of you," she said, looking around at the little gathering, "any explanations whatsoever!"

"Oh really?" Nene asked defiantly, "And what about the boomer fight two weeks ago?"

"The fight..." Sylia's face went white as she remembered the battle.

------

_Nene and Priss arrived first, but were almost immediately in trouble. The rogue assembly line boomer had connected a tentacle from its body to Nene, and had begun trying to absorb her suit into itself. When Priss tried to defend Nene, the boomer had swung another appendage out, catching her off guard and knocking her into the corner of a building hard enough to crack the armor around her lower arm, fracturing her ulna._

_As both Priss and Nene screamed in agony and terror, Sylia and Linna landed in an alley nearby. Linna came out of the alley first, stopping momentarily to look back at something, and then turned back to the rogue boomer and her friends. A few minutes later, Sylia came out of the alley. She seemed to move slowly at first, but then gained momentum as she got closer to the action. She and Linna together managed to take down the boomer and get their injured fellow Knight Sabers to safety before the AD Police arrived._

------

"Priss and I were listening in on our audio frequencies," Nene said. "You and Linna both arrived at the same time. So why did you come out so much later than Linna?"

"Why didn't... Look, I had my reasons," Sylia stammered out, "Not that it's any of your business, but there were extenuating circumstances and..."

"I'll tell you why," Linna interrupted, her eyes cast downward as she attempted to avoid her leader's gaze, "When we landed, I saw her pull her visor back to throw up before she could come help."

Sylia was stunned, "You back stabbing bitch!" she yelled. She'd never felt so betrayed by anyone before. She saw Linna turn away from her as tears began to form in the corners of the younger woman's eyes. Nene leaned her head on Mackie's shoulder as she wiped away some tears of her own. Priss silently stood and looked from her two fellow Knight Sabers back over to Sylia. Henderson now tentatively stepped forward.

"Miss Stingray," Henderson said, "you need help. All you seem to do is drink. You always have a glass in your hand nowadays. You don't go out anymore, unless it's on one of your missions. And as for the Silky Doll..." his voice died off as he caught sight of look of unbridled rage Sylia was giving him.

"Fuck the Silky Doll, fuck the Knight Sabers and fuck you!" she screamed at the group, her voice cracking as she shook with rage, "I pay your salaries, damn it! You all work for me! Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like I'm a fucking child?"

There was an uneasy silence in the room, the only sounds coming from the tick-tock of an old grandfather clock and Nene's soft crying on Mackie's shoulder. Then Priss took a deep sigh and walked forward, reached into the pocket of her leather jacket with her good hand. As the others watched, she pulled out the envelope filled with money Sylia had given her earlier that evening.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she said, shaking her head with a smirk. She then tossed the envelope at Sylia's feet.

"Priss..." Sylia began, but stopped short when Linna and Nene likewise tossed their envelopes at her.

"In case you hadn't figured it out yet," Priss said, "You're more to us than our boss, and we are way more than employees to you, whether you are willing to admit it or not."

"Get out."

"Sylia, please." Linna said, tears now running freely down her cheeks, "We've been through too much together. We saved the world, damn it! We destroyed Galatia! Don't let something like this end it," she pleaded as she held up the whiskey bottle again.

"I said get out." Sylia replied as she narrowed her eyes at Linna, "Now!"

Nene was now loudly sobbing as Mackie led her out of the room.

"Well, we tried." Priss sighed as she threw her hands up in defeat. Henderson followed the singer out, his head bent low.

Sylia and Linna were now alone, the tension in the room palpable. They said nothing as they stared at each other uneasily for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Linna sighed sadly, put the whiskey bottle up on the counter, and left with the others, leaving Sylia once again feeling terribly, terribly alone.

---The Present---

"Hello," a middle aged man said as Sylia and Linna entered the room, "my name's Toshiro Itano," he added as he bowed gallantly to the two young women, "You're new here aren't you, miss..."

"Stingray. Sylia Stingray. And this is my friend, Linna Yamazaki."

"I'm here for moral support," Linna said, smiling at Toshiro.

"Wonderful. It's good to have you here. Please, have a seat, and make yourself at home."

---Three Days Ago---

The first thing Sylia noticed, other than the awful taste in her mouth and the stench in the room she was in, was the pain in her side. After shaking her head a few times to clear her thoughts, she realized her side hurt from sleeping on the bathroom floor. She looked in front of her and saw an empty pill bottle and mostly empty whiskey bottle. Quickly putting two and two together, she realized that some time after she had blacked out she must've continued on her little binge, perhaps even attempting some crude form of suicide after the disastrous intervention that had taken place.

As she weakly tried to get up, her head pounding and her legs feeling weak, she noticed two more things. First, she'd been sleeping in a small pool of her own vomit, the fact that she was sleeping on her side instead of her back probably the only thing that saved her from death by asphyxiation. Secondly, she had lost control of her bowels while she was out, ruining her new dress and causing the young woman to wince in disgust.

As she used the bathroom sink for support, she saw her reflection in the mirror. Her once beautiful hair was matted and sticking to her head in clumps, partially digested food, pills and other items were stuck in it. Her eyes were sunk in, and her lips were pale. She looked like one of the homeless bag ladies she occasionally ran into on the outskirts of the city.

She started sobbing at the sight, violently shaking all over. Standing in the bathroom which was now reeking of excrement and vomit, she managed to get her clothes off and herself into the shower. Thirty minutes later she was in her room, a bathrobe on and the cell phone in her hand.

"Hello?"

"Don't hang up! Please? Linna, it's me. Linna, I...," she had to stop, her voice was cracking and she could barely see the room she was in through the tears now clouding her vision.

"I need help. Please?"

---The Present---

"It's great to see everyone back here tonight. And we have a new member. Miss, would you like to start us off?"

Sylia slowly got out of her seat and nervously looked around at the room full of strangers staring at her. She was shaking all over, partly from three days worth of withdrawal, but also from fear and nervousness. She hated this feeling of complete and total vulnerability she was experiencing, and she avoided eye contact with anyone else as she struggled with the sudden urge to run from the room. It was one thing to admit to yourself you were weak, but to do so to a room full of strangers...

She was shaken out of her dark thoughts by a slight pressure on her left hand. She looked down to see Linna squeezing her hand, their eyes meeting as she gave the leader of the Knight Sabers a small smile of reassurance. Sylia took a deep breath as she squeezed the office lady's hand back. She then looked back up at the men and women in the room.

"Hello," she began, holding her fellow Knight Saber's hand as if it was a lifeline, "My name is Sylia Stingray, and I'm an alcoholic..."

-To Be Continued-

End Notes: Believe it or not, the initial impetus to write this story was watching one too many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I was sitting there one day viewing a B.G.C. episode where Sylia was shown fixing herself a drink, a small container of pills lying nearby. Suddenly the voice of Tom Servo popped into my head, "Hello, I'm Sylia

Stingray and I'm an alcoholic," and it got me to thinking. Of all the people, Sylia seemed the least likely in my opinion to either admit she had a problem or seek help; exactly what would it take to get her to let go of her ego and reach out? This fanfic was the result.

Future chapters will be much less dark, I promise


	2. Chapter 2

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

"My name is Sylia Stingray, and I'm an alcoholic and prescription drug addict."

"Hello Sylia," the group greeted her. She then sat down, still holding Linna's hand as one by one the others in the room likewise introduced themselves and were welcomed.

An hour and a half later, the meeting ended. Sylia and Linna exited the building with the others, the older woman striking up a conversation with a recovering alcoholic and mother of two by the name of Miko.

"You are lucky to have the support base you do," Miko said, glancing over at Linna who blushed a bit at the compliment, "So many of us have managed to drive away everybody in our lives that by the time we seek help, we're all alone."

Sylia had to smile at that. What had started out as a group of hired guns to help her in her quest for revenge against Genom had in fact become her surrogate family. She was about to say something, when Linna's cell phone rang.

"Sorry ladies," Linna said, "I didn't mean to interrupt your discussion, I... Sylia?"

"Yes?"

Linna now blushed once again as she met her leader's eyes, "Could you let go of my hand now?"

With a start Sylia realized she'd been holding the younger woman's hand all this time. She let it go, looking down at her hand as she did so. Her palm was still warm from Linna's touch. She couldn't explain why, but somehow she found herself missing the connection.

"Hello?" Linna said as she answered her cell phone, "What, now? Okay. What? Yeah, she's right here." With that, Linna gave the phone to Sylia and ran the rest of the way down the steps of the building to the sidewalk.

Sylia watched Linna run to the curb, and put the phone to her ear, "Hello?"

"Rogue boomer, sis," Mackie said on the other line, "It's a fairly small one though. Linna and Nene should be fine handling it. Henderson will be by to pick you up in a few minutes."

Sylia smiled at her brother's tact, even as she saw the Knight Sabers' van race around the corner to pick up Linna. She wanted to go too, to be out there watching her girls' backs. She could feel her adrenalin pick up a bit like it did every other time her Knight Sabers went out, memories of her monitoring the battles, jumping in when necessary, coming back to her as she watched the van race off again.

She closed her eyes and let out a groan. She was in no condition to do that right now, and she knew it.

"Understood," she answered regretfully, "Be careful. And Mackie?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you. For everything," she added as she hung up the cell phone and put it in her pocket.

"What was that all about?" Miko asked, noting the look of frustration and regret in Sylia's face.

"Long story," she answered as Henderson pulled her car up to the curb, "See you again next week?"

"Of course." Miko said, smiling at her as she watched Sylia get into the car and drive off.

------

A short time later, Sylia and Henderson arrived back at the Silky Doll. They were both going down the hidden elevator leading down into the pit, when it hit. The D.T.s were bad, the profuse sweating and insomnia were also bad, but of all the physical withdrawal symptoms she had been going through it was the nausea she hated the most. It always seemed to strike at the most inopportune time.

Like now, when she was stuck on an elevator with her butler.

"Are you all right, madam? You look ill."

"Just feeling a bit motion sick, I guess."

The elevator door finally opened, much to Sylia's relief. She ran for the bathroom as fast as she could in her high heels, reaching it just in time.

When she was done, she brushed her teeth, gargled out her mouth with mouthwash, opened the bathroom door, and came face to face with Priss.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," Priss smirked.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, there's a rogue boomer out there," she answered, "Nene and Linna are busy, and...oh hell. Look, Linna called from the van and asked me if I could come over to check up on you. I... urgh! I'm really lousy at this sort of thing."

Sylia put her hand on Priss' good arm and smiled. "You're doing fine," she reassured, "And Priss, about before, I'm sorry. Thanks for not leaving," she added, thinking about what Miko had said earlier.

"Yeah, well..."

"Oh, have you had anything to eat yet?"

"No, but don't get Henderson for me. It's late."

"I wasn't going to get Henderson," Sylia answered, "How does spaghetti sound?"

"You're cooking?"

"Yes, so you can put your eyes back in your head," she laughed, "It's been helping me keep occupied," more seriously she asked, "Any word yet from Nene or Linna?"

"None yet. I hate this. It's one thing to be out there fighting, but this waiting..."

"I know. How did Mackie and Nigel ever get through these waits? Nigel..."

Priss looked over to see Sylia in her fashionable low cut business suit she'd worn to the A.A. meeting suddenly stare off with a lost look in her eyes. She knew she needed to try distracting her before something happened.

"Uh, Sylia, I still haven't had dinner yet."

"Huh? Oh, right," she said, trying her best to smile, "Follow me."

Priss followed Sylia through the dining room. As they walked past the mini bar area, she noticed it had been cleaned out, only ginger ale and bottled waters remaining on the mostly empty shelves. She also noticed the pamphlets on the dining room table.

"So how's Leon doing these days?" Sylia asked over her shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, Leon? You know him. Talks for months about starting a private detective agency with his friend Dailey, then turns around and joins in on the revamping of the new AD Police. I don't know what I'm going to do with him," Priss said as she picked up one of the pamphlets labeled _The Twelve Steps to Recovery_.

"Priss, can you give me a hand in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, laying the pamphlet back down on the table. She then turned around and walked into the kitchen, trying to stifle a chuckle as she saw Sylia wearing an apron over her business suit.

"Can you cut these tomatoes for me?" Sylia asked, holding up her shaking right hand. "I'm not sure I'm all that safe with a knife right now."

Priss had to smile at the situation. Sylia, the control freak, was asking for help cutting tomatoes. Better still was the fact that due to her injury Priss could only use her left hand to cut, and she was right handed.

"Well, this'll be one for the 2041 Darwin Awards."

"What?"

"Nothing. Give me the knife; you try to hold the tomatoes steady."

------

Nene and Linna bounded from one rooftop to another heading home. The rogue boomer was one originally designed for the Tokyo Fire Department to help in situations where the danger to a regular fire fighter was perceived to be too great. It had been keeping the AD Police at bay with one of it's built in high-pressure water hoses, a separate hose connecting it to the nearby fire hydrant, when they'd arrived.

Nene acted as the distraction, allowing Linna to use her ribbon cutters to sever the boomer's connection to the hydrant. Before it could react, Nene fired her needles into its eyes, giving Linna the opportunity she needed to reach in and crush its core.

"Mackie, this is Nene," the youngest Knight Saber radioed in, "The boomer's been suppressed. We're coming back to the Silky Doll."

"Roger. Meet you there. Sis says she's fixed spaghetti for everyone, so are you going to hang around?"

Nene wasn't sure which was more shocking; that Sylia was cooking or that she was fixing them spaghetti at 10:45 at night. She thought about it, then she thought about the last time they were all together. The things that were said.

The tears...

"No. I'm going home after I change."

"Oh." Mackie replied, sounding a bit down.

"Nene," Linna said, "she is getting help. She's trying..."

"I said no!" Nene blurted out, effectively silencing both Linna and Mackie. The rest of the way back was passed in silence.

------

"Hey Linna, hey Mackie," Sylia called out from the dining room, the scent of garlic and tomatoes heavy in the air. "Where's Nene?"

Linna and Mackie both looked at one another.

"She's not here." Mackie answered as he tried to avoid eye contact with his sister.

"She, um..." Linna began.

Priss looked at Linna and Mackie's facial expressions, frowned, and made a mental note to have a talk with Nene next chance she had.

Sylia broke the silence, "I understand," she said, masking her feelings behind a smile, "So, who wants dinner?"

------

Priss had left about fifteen minutes ago. Mackie followed soon after, and Linna was now staying behind to help Sylia with the dishes. Sylia, thinking back on Priss' Darwin Award comment earlier in the evening, couldn't help but think with a bit of morbid humor about the award that would go to a biker chick that just had to ride her motorcycle home one handed at midnight on a moonless night.

She looked over at Linna, and smiled. She's been with her during the worst of her withdrawals over the past four days. She could still remember her fellow Knight Saber making her stay tucked in bed as she scrubbed away the mess left on the floor in the bathroom, holding her when she thought bugs were crawling under her skin, and staying by her side through her first A.A. meeting.

And here she was now, drying the dishes as Sylia washed them. As she looked at her, she thought back to earlier, to the feeling of Linna's hand holding hers. The older woman had playfully flirted with her and the others before, as well as her customers at the Silky Doll. It was all in fun, and she loved to watch their reactions as she pressed their buttons. But, as she continued to watch Linna drying dishes next to her, she realized she was starting to feel something for her more than just friendship. The younger woman had seen her at her absolute lowest point, with her guard down and at rock bottom, and had stayed by her side.

She'd been in a relationship with another girl once when she was in high school, but it had ended badly. She'd only ever been in one other long-term relationship, and that had been with Nigel...

"I said, how are you sleeping?"

"What?" Sylia asked, jarred out of her thoughts by Linna's question.

"You look tired. Are you having trouble getting to sleep?" Linna asked, finishing off the last of her dishes.

Sylia looked down and nodded. She had no idea how much she'd come to depend on her sleeping pills until she'd given them up. "I think I've gotten three hours sleep in the last forty-eight hours," she admitted.

"I thought so. Your eyes are a bit baggy and you look like you're ready to collapse. Come on, let's get you to bed."

Sylia raised an eyebrow at that, "What did you just say?"

"Don't argue with me. Come on," Linna said as she grabbed Sylia's hand and walked her back towards the bedroom. Sylia had hardly enough time to register the feel of her soft hand once again touching hers before they reached the bedroom door.

"I'm going to wait outside the door," Linna explained, adding, "Call me when you're in bed."

Sylia watched Linna shut the door behind her as she exited the room and shook her head in disbelief. 'She sounds like my mother used to,' she thought to herself as she disrobed. She then put on some silk pajamas and climbed into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin.

"Okay," she called out. Linna entered the bedroom and sat next to Sylia on the bed. She then gently placed Sylia's head on her lap, and began running her fingers through her leader's silvery hair.

Sylia drew in a sharp breath, "Linna, what are you..."

"Shh..." Linna whispered as she continued to stroke Sylia's hair, "Whenever I couldn't sleep growing up, my mother would put my head in her lap, run her fingers through my hair, and sing a lullaby. Now close your eyes, and don't laugh at my singing skills."

Sylia looked up at her friend in disbelief. Here she was; the leader of the Knight Sabers, a woman who'd faced death on more than one occasion and who demanded respect, now reduced to being sung to sleep like a five year old because of a damned chemical addiction.

Still, she couldn't go another sleepless night. And she felt so comfortable with her head resting in Linna's lap as she felt her fingers gently brushing her hair. She closed her eyes, smiling a bit as Linna began to sing.

_Why are there so many, songs about rainbows,_

_And what's on the other side..._

------

As Linna finished her song, she looked down to see Sylia fast asleep. She looked so beautiful in her sleep, so peaceful. Her mind wandered back to their first meeting, to Sylia cupping her cheek in her hand as she complimented the newcomer on her beauty. She closed her eyes, inhaling the other woman's perfume as she felt her soft, silky strands of hair flow around her fingers.

She was brought out of her reverie by the sound of snoring. Loud snoring. Opening her eyes, she watched as Sylia tilted her head in her sleep, a bit of drool dripping onto the younger woman's new pants. In the position she now lay in, Linna was also treated to a full blast of the garlic on Sylia's breath from the night's spaghetti dinner. She tried to get up, but stopped when her leader stirred uneasily in her sleep, putting her arm around Linna's waist as if she was a big teddy bear.

Linna didn't dare move; she knew Sylia desperately needed the sleep. She looked over at the clock, noting it was 12:45 AM. 'This is going to be a long night,' she thought to herself. While it was true that she'd sometimes fantasize about what it might be like to spend the night with the attractive Sylia Stingray, this wasn't exactly going the way she'd imagined.

Smiling to herself a bit at the irony of the situation, Linna closed her eyes as she allowed a yawn to escape.

-To be continued-


	3. Chapter 3

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

Sylia woke up to find her head still on Linna's lap, her arms around the younger woman's waist. Looking up, she saw that Linna was sleeping in a very uncomfortable position, her head hanging down so that her chin was resting on her chest, one arm resting on Sylia's shoulder, the other hanging off the bed. She was still wearing the same off the rack, K-Mart chic outfit she'd had on yesterday, although now it was all wrinkled. Sylia made a mental note to try and help Linna with her wardrobe choices one of these days.

"Linna," Sylia whispered.

"Snkt...Oh mom, do I have to meet this new loser dad's brought over?" she mumbled in her sleep, causing the other woman to chuckle a bit as she shook her.

"Hey sleepy head, come on; time to get up."

"Huh?" Linna asked as she slowly lifted her head. Her body was sore and stiff from the position she had been sleeping in. "What time is it?"

Sylia looked over past Linna to the clock on the dresser.

"8:30 AM, Monday morning."

"What?" Linna jerked up at that, causing Sylia's head to fall off her lap and onto the mattress. "I'm going to be late! I've only got thirty minutes to get home, change, and get to work."

With that Linna leapt out of bed, and promptly fell on the floor.

"Linna!" Sylia cried out, "Are you alright?"

"Ow... Yeah, I'm fine." she said, her face turning red from embarrassment as she rubbed her sore rear. "I guess my legs fell asleep."

Sylia laughed a bit at that as she helped Linna back to her feet, saw her to her moped, and went back inside the Silky Doll.

Over the next few days, Sylia's physical withdrawal symptoms gradually became more manageable and less noticeable. Her psychological addictions were harder to overcome, but with Linna, Priss and the others around, as well as her new friends she'd made at the weekly meetings she was attending, she was learning to manage.

Nene however continued to stay away from her. She never talked about it, but it did hurt a bit not having the blonde at least saying 'hi' when she came to spend time with Mackie. She knew enough to stay away from the youngest Knight Saber though, allowing her to have her space until she was comfortable being around her again.

---Two Weeks Later---

Nene let out a long yawn, stretching her arms out wide as she watched the clock. Five more minutes and the shift would be over. When she had agreed to switch shifts with Sara so she could be with her mom in the hospital last night, she hadn't thought much of it. After all, she'd been out late into the night with the other Sabers dozens of times. How hard could an overnight shift at the newly revamped AD Police computer center be?

Nearly nine hours later, at three minutes to seven in the morning, she knew exactly how hard.

"Well, Uprio-Chan," she said, talking to her stuffed weasel as she added one more used Styrofoam coffee cup to the small cup pyramid in front of her, "Two more minutes, and we can get out of here and go to bed."

"Yay!" she exclaimed, moving Uprio-Chan's head and arms to look like he was cheering the good news.

Finally, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and looked up to see the morning shift replacement smiling down at her. She quickly collected her things and made for the door, throwing away her coffee cups on the way out.

As she was lethargically making her way down the corridor to the elevator at the end, she felt a hand grab at her underneath her right arm, then another under her left. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself being dragged into the broom closet, heard the sound of something splashing, and then the light was turned on.

"Aw shit!"

"Ha, ha. Smooth moves, Leon."

Nene turned around to see Daley laughing hysterically at something. It took a second for the sleep-deprived AD Police computer technician to focus in on what just happened. Then she realized Leon had stepped in a mop bucket. Normally this would've amused Nene to no end, but right then and there all she could think about was going home and collapsing into bed.

"Leon Poo," she fumed, "Go away! Can't you see I'm tired? I don't have time to play today."

Daley continued chuckling as Leon pulled his foot out of the bucket, shook the water out, and gave him a look of death. He then focused his attention on Nene.

"Don't call me Leon poo! And we didn't pull you in here to play. We need to talk to you."

"About what, Leon Poo?" Nene asked, not really caring what Leon or Daley had to say at that particular moment.

"About Sylia," Daley answered, suddenly taking on a much more serious air about him.

That got Nene's attention.

"Priss has been talking with us," Leon said, "She's told us everything. About the intervention, what was said, what happened since, everything. What she wants to know, what we all want to know, is where the hell have you been through all this?"

Nene narrowed her eyes, "Look, I'm tired, I'm cranky, and my stomach's doing summersaults from too much coffee. I'm not going to get into this with you two?"

"Nene, she's a friend," Daley broke in, "She needs everyone right now."

"She's got Linna, Priss, Mackie and Henderson. Besides, I did try to help, and it blew up in my face!" she said, again reliving the angry words of that night.

"She asks about you," Leon broke in, "Priss tells me that, even though she does her best not to show it, it hurts her to know you won't come around to visit, or call, unless it's to see Mackie. Then, you can't get out fast enough."

"Leon..."

Daley spoke up again, "Give her another chance. That's all anyone's asking of you Nene."

"She's having dinner tonight at six. Priss and I will be there, and so will Daley, Linna and Mackie. It would mean a lot to her to have you show up."

Nene was looking down at the ground, "Okay, if I promise to think about it, will you two let me out of this smelly old room so I can go home and get some sleep?"

Daley and Leon looked at one another.

"I think we can accept that," Daley said, speaking up for both of them.

"Good. Bye." And with that, Nene left the broom closet, leaving Leon and Daley alone in the room together.

"Well, that went smoothly," Daley said as he put his hands in his pants' pockets, "By the way, that's a good look for you. I hear the wet look is in this season."

"Oh, shut up Daley," Leon growled as he exited the room. Daley followed, chuckling at the "squish, squish" sound Leon was making as he walked down the hallway.

---Later that day---

"Henderson," Sylia said as she picked up her purse, "I'm going out for groceries for tonight's get together."

"You needn't do that, madam. If you give me your shopping list, I'd be more than happy to..."

"That won't be necessary."

Henderson noted something in Sylia's voice. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was wrong.

"Are you sure, madam?"

"Look, I just said...," Sylia stopped when she saw the look on his face. She sighed a bit, and smiled, "I'll be fine, Henderson. Thanks," she said as she entered the elevator. The elevator doors closed, leaving Henderson alone and very concerned about what might be troubling her.

Just then, the phone rang. Henderson went to the counter to answer the phone, only to hear a busy signal. When he heard another ring, he realized it was Sylia's cell phone. Following the ringing, he eventually found it on the coffee table lying next to her pager.

'Odd,' he thought to himself as he opened the little phone to answer.

"Good afternoon."

"Hi. Henderson?" Nene asked, "Where's Sylia?"

"She went out to buy groceries for tonight."

"Oh, okay. Can you tell her I'll be coming over tonight as well?"

"Certainly, Miss Romanova. Miss Stingray will be very pleased to have

you over."

"Good. Well, bye," the kawaii young woman on the other end said just before hanging up. Once again alone with his thoughts, Henderson began to wonder why Sylia would forget her pager and cell phone. It was totally out of character for her.

Then something caught his eye. It was the date displayed on the digital screen of the cell phone. He quickly did some math in his head.

"Oh bloody hell," he gasped, as he hurriedly went through the cell phone's speed dial listings.

"Hello?"

"Miss Yamazaki?" he asked, Linna immediately picking up on the panic in his voice "Are you busy right now?"

---One Hour Later---

Six months.

It was six months ago today that they had tackled that rogue assembly line boomer on the roof of the tuna factory. Six months since it fell from the roof as its core was torn out. Six months since Mackie screamed out that the carcass was about to fall on their old Knight Sabers' van, and six months since Nigel threw Mackie out the back of the van, and was caught in the fireball as the boomer collided with the van.

She didn't want to deal with this. Not now, not ever. She tightened her grip on the shopping cart as she stood there in the super market staring at the wine and liquor section, just as she had been for the last ten minutes.

It would be so easy, she thought. A third of a bottle, and she wouldn't hurt as much. Two thirds and she wouldn't feel anything. Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead and her mouth was salivating, and still she stood there in the aisle as if hypnotized.

She didn't have to worry about what Nene might think; she'd obviously given up on her already. Priss would of course give up for good, leaving her to go to hell in her own way. Linna would...

Linna...

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Opening them again, she turned around and began to walk away. As she was exiting the aisle, some movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. A slightly older woman than herself was reaching for a bottle of vodka, nervously looking around as she did so. Suddenly their eyes met, and she recognized the woman.

"Miko?" Sylia asked, looking at her friend from A.A.

Miko, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, dropped the bottle of vodka she was holding. It fell to the floor with a loud crash as she started sobbing. Sylia went over to put her arms around her as a clerk angrily came from around the corner.

"Hey!" he yelled, "What's going on here?"

"Sorry sir," Sylia said, holding the now nearly hysterical Miko as she was crying on her shoulder. "Just an accident. I'll pay for it."

Suddenly, Linna came running around the opposite corner with a look of concern on her face. She stopped when she got a good look at the scene in front of her. Sylia was holding a clearly distraught woman in her arms, there was a smashed bottle of booze on the floor, and a frowning sales clerk staring back at them.

"Uh, Sylia..." she asked, "What the hell just happened?"

Sylia proceeded to do the one thing she did best in a crisis situation; she took charge.

"Linna, here," she said as she passed a card over to her fellow Knight Saber, "Take my credit card and pay for the broken bottle and the groceries in my cart," she ordered, adding, "Do you have your cell phone on you?"

"Wha...oh, yeah. Here," she said as she offered it over.

"Good," Sylia answered as she took the phone. She turned around to head down the aisle that led toward the exit, one arm still around Miko as she hurriedly dialed a number from memory with her free hand.

"Hello? Is this Mr. Toshiro Itano? It's Sylia. Sylia Stingray. Yes, the pretty one from the group," she said as she rolled her eyes, "Listen, are you free...?"

---That evening---

Nene arrived fifteen minutes late for Sylia's dinner. The first thing she noticed, besides the fact that the lights in the Silky Doll were still on even though it was after six o'clock in the evening, was the strange car parked between Linna's moped and Leon's civilian rust bucket. As she went inside, she saw Henderson pouring Daley a cup of coffee. Leon and Priss were standing in a corner talking while Linna was drinking coffee out of an expensive looking cup. The office lady was staring at the stockroom door behind the counter.

"Um, hello."

Linna turned around, and her face beamed, "Nene! You came! Sylia will be so happy."

"So," Priss asked, "You've decided to come visit again?"

"Yes, Priss. And that was a dirty trick, getting Daley and Leon Poo to corner me when I was tired and my defenses were down," she remarked as she looked around "So what happened to dinner? And who's car is that parked between Linna's moped and Trench Foot's heap."

"Trench foot?" Priss, asked, raising one eyebrow as Leon turned beet red and Daley started chuckling in the corner, trying to keep from spitting out his coffee all over the floor.

"You mean," Nene asked, trying to feign innocence in her voice, "He didn't tell you about the bucket?" before Leon could reply, Mackie came into the room.

"Dinner's been postponed," Mackie explained, "And the car belongs to one of the members of Sylia's support group. He and another member are in the back stock room with sis right now."

Nene's heart sank, "She had a relapse?" she asked.

"No," Mackie answered, "Someone else did."

Just then the door to the stock room opened, and the room hushed as Sylia walked out, followed by Miko and Toshiro.

"I'll take her home, Miss Stingray." Toshiro offered.

"Thank you, Mr. Itano," Sylia said, "You sure it's no trouble?"

"No trouble at all. You ready, Miss Ishikawa?"

"Yes, thank you," she said. She then turned to Sylia, "And thank you, Miss Stingray. If you hadn't been there in the grocery store to stop me..."

"Think nothing of it." Sylia answered, trying to ignore the feelings of guilt welling up within her. Everyone thought she was some sort of a hero for being there to stop Miko. She knew better.

As she watched them leave through the main doors, Sylia noticed Nene standing with Mackie and Linna by the cash register, and smiled. "Nene," she said happily, "You're here."

Nene smiled back at her, "Well of course I am, silly. We're Knight Sabers, we stick together! And I brought a friend with me."

"Oh really?" Sylia asked, "Who?"

Pulling her backpack off, Nene reached in and pulled something furry out.

"This is Uprio-Chan!" Nene said triumphantly, as both Leon and Daley rolled their eyes. "He always cheers me up at work when I'm down. Say 'Hi.' Uprio-chan."

"Um, Nene," Sylia began, "That's very sweet, but I..."

"Hello, Sylia." Nene said in a squeaky, high pitched voice as she held the stuffed weasel up to Sylia. The leader of the Knight Sabers looked over to see both Priss and Linna shaking convulsively, trying not to laugh. Even Henderson had his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. For the briefest of seconds, Sylia wondered if having Nene back as a friend really was so great. But then she looked at Nene, and could see the sincerity in her eyes. She really was trying her best in her own way to reach out to her.

"Hello, Uprio-Chan," she finally managed to get out.

------

As everyone was leaving, Sylia called to Linna to stay behind. As the last of the guests left, she turned to her.

"Linna," she asked, "What were you doing at the grocery store today?"

"Henderson called me. He was worried about you and asked if I'd go make sure you were okay. Today being the six month anniversary of Nigel's death, he was afraid you were going to relapse or something. You're not mad, are you?"

Sylia looked at the other woman silently for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh, "No, of course not," she answered, "Actually, he was right to be concerned."

Linna looked shocked, "You mean, you..."

"Came this close," she admitted, holding up her hand with her thumb and index finger less than an inch apart.

"What stopped you? Was it Miko?"

"No, Linna. It was you."

"Me?" Linna asked, wondering what Sylia was trying to get at.

"I wanted to, Linna," she said as she walked over to her, "I wanted to bad. But I couldn't bring myself to hurt you that way. Not after all you've done for me over the past three weeks. You pulled me back from the brink, and I can never thank you enough."

With that she hugged her. Linna, carried away with the moment, hugged her back, kissing her on the cheek.

Sylia froze, her body suddenly tensing. Linna immediately regretted kissing her. She was about to back away, when her fellow Knight Saber hugged her a bit tighter. She then felt the older woman's cheek brush up against hers as Sylia reached up and gently cradled the other side of the young woman's face.

Linna looked questioningly at the older woman as Sylia turned to look at her in a way she'd never done before. "Sylia?" she asked as the Knight Saber's leader reached up with her other hand, tenderly stroking her other cheek, "What..." she was cut off as Sylia closed her eyes and moved in, pressing her lips to Linna's.

Linna's eyes widened as she felt the soft, full lips against her own. She'd always dreamed of this moment, but to now have it actually happening seemed too good to be true. Her heart felt like it was ready to burst out of her chest as Sylia continued to kiss her, stroking her cheeks with her thumbs as the scent of her perfume filled the younger woman's nostrils. As she finally began to calm down, she closed her eyes, losing herself in the moment as she opened her mouth invitingly. She ran her hand up and down Sylia's back as the other woman deepened the kiss.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the two separated from the kiss. They looked silently at one another, their faces communicating far more nonverbally than any words could. Linna still had her arms around Sylia as the older Knight Saber continued to tenderly cradle her cheek. Finally, the younger woman closed her eyes as she leaned forward, resting her head on the other woman's shoulder.

-To Be Continued-


	4. Chapter 4

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

Priss was finally pulling into the driveway she'd cleared away in front of her trailer. Leon had been giving her grief about riding home on her bike one handed from the Silky Doll, but luckily that would all be over in two days when her arm would finally be removed from its cast.

The day after tomorrow also marked the much-hyped return of Sekiria to Hot Legs. Priss' arm couldn't heal fast enough for owner Tony Ishimura. After such replacement acts as The Bloody Blood, Darwin and the Degenerates, and an alternative garage band simply called Spinach failed to generate any interest, Tony had begged Priss and Sekiria to come back early. He was quick to point out that she was a singer, not a guitarist.

She could just stand there and sing.

Priss had thought about it, but in the end flatly rejected the idea. She had an image to keep up, and she didn't want that image to be tarnished in the minds of her fans. Besides, with all the leaping about on stage she did during her performances, she knew she wouldn't be able to do the show she wanted to until her cast was off.

As she opened the door to her trailer and walked to her couch, her mind wandered back to earlier that night, and she began to laugh softly to herself. She still wasn't sure what was funnier; seeing Sylia say hello to that stupid stuffed weasel of Nene's, or hearing about Leon sticking his foot in a bucket of dirty mop water (and at the beginning of his shift no less).

As she got up to get herself a beer out of the fridge, she remembered Sylia calling for Linna to stay behind when everyone else was leaving. 'I wonder what she wanted Linna for?' she thought as she popped the can open, taking a swig as she sat down in front of her television set.

------

Sylia held Linna close as the younger woman breathed softly against her neck. She closed her eyes, almost as if she were afraid this was all a dream and would disappear if she opened them. She'd kissed her without thinking about it, without even stopping to consider whether or not Linna was into girls. It could have, should have blown up in her face. Linna should have pushed her away; she should have looked at her with a horrified gaze just before she ran away from her.

Instead, the younger woman kissed her back. Opening her eyes, she looked down at her, still resting her head on her shoulder. "Linna," she whispered.

The office lady looked up into Sylia's face, "Yes," she answered breathlessly.

Sylia smiled, "You know," she said as she lightly traced Linna's lips with her index finger, "I've wanted to do that for a while now." The younger woman pursed her lips and kissed the other's finger.

"So have I," she admitted. She then thought of what this might mean to their relationship, as well as their relationship with the others, "Sylia, where do we go from here?"

Sylia thought about the question. They'd progressed from a working relationship in the beginning to friends over time, but what they were entering into now was entirely new. Obviously, any romance among two of the Knight Sabers would change the group dynamic, but for her as the leader of the group to begin dating someone under her opened up a whole Pandora's Box of complications. Could she send Linna into danger if they went any further? And how would Priss and Nene take such a development? Would they be accepting, complain that she gave Linna preferential treatment, or even be intolerant of their entering into a lesbian relationship?

She was pulled out of her thoughts as she looked into the younger woman's eyes. Funny, she'd never noticed what a deep shade of blue they were before, or how they glittered in the artificial lighting of the room they were in. As she continued to look into Linna's eyes, she knew what her answer was.

"I don't care," she said finally as she tilted Linna's chin up, "Just as long as we arrive there together," she added as she once again brought her lips to the other Knight Saber's. There was more passion in the kiss this time, less fear or nervousness. Linna's heart fluttered as she felt Sylia's tongue against her own, and she put her hand behind her leader's head as Sylia allowed a low moan to escape her throat.

As their lips separated, Sylia brought her mouth up to Linna's ear. "Stay," she whispered, tenderly kissing her earlobe, "Stay with me tonight. Please."

Linna opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. She looked away from the other woman as she sighed, "I... I can't," she answered back sadly, "I hate to say this, but I have to go home tonight. I have a ton of paperwork to do before I go to work tomorrow."

Sylia frowned, "Couldn't you maybe call in?" she asked hopefully.

Linna shook her head, "I want to Sylia. More than you'll ever know. But I've used up an entire year's worth of sick leave and personal days over the past few weeks."

Sylia's mind again raced back to all the times Linna had been there for her during her recovery. It had never occurred to her that it might've caused Linna trouble at her job to do so. "I'm sorry. You're right," she sighed disappointedly. She then smiled seductively as she said in a lower voice, "But tomorrow's a Friday. You have the weekends off..."

"Then it's a date," Linna said. She reluctantly stepped back, releasing Sylia from her embrace. Sylia took her hand as she walked her towards the front doors of the Silky Doll. As they reached the exit, she began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Linna asked.

"Nene was actually right about something."

"What?"

"Remember about a year ago, when I teased her by leaning so close to her she freaked out?" Sylia asked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, "She said she wasn't into girls like that, but thought you were."

"Oh yeah." Linna answered as she thought back to the scene. She then began to giggle, asking, "So how are you and your new addiction councilor Uprio-Chan getting along?"

That sent them both into a laughing fit.

"How in the hell...," Sylia asked, gasping for air as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, "...did you survive being stuck on an island with her for two weeks?"

"He, he... it wasn't easy," Linna answered, "If that Norwegian fishing boat hadn't showed up when it did, I was going to go 'Lord of the Flies' on her! Did I ever tell you how she tried to make a pet out of one of the clams we found off shore?"

"You're kidding! Ha, ha, what happened?"

"She changed her mind when the stupid thing clamped down on her finger. You should've seen it... Ha, ha... 'Ow! Bad clam! Bad clam!'"

They both laughed hard at that. Finally, they both calmed down as they realized Linna had to leave. Sylia pulled the younger woman's hand up to her lips, kissing the back of it tenderly before leaning forward to lightly kiss her goodbye on the lips. Linna gave her leader's hand a gentle squeeze, turned around and left the building. Sylia watched as she got on her moped and rode away. She then locked the door, turned off the lights, and headed for bed.

------

Nene and Mackie were coming back from their walk around the block. They were holding hands, looking up at the night sky and talking about nothing in particular. Finding a bench they sat down together, the moon shining down on the pair as Mackie turned to his girlfriend.

"Thank you for coming over tonight," he said, "It meant a lot to sis."

Nene looked downward, "Yeah, well, I'm sorry I stayed away so long," she said. Looking up, her eyes met his, "How's she doing anyways?"

"Fine," he answered, "She has her good days and her bad. She can still be cranky at times, but that's sis."

"Isn't that the truth," Nene quipped. Mackie chuckled a bit at that. Looking at his watch, he frowned.

"It's getting late," he said, "We should probably head back."

Getting up from the bench, the two slowly walking back to the Silky Doll. Coming around the curb on the sidewalk, they saw the door open, and watched as Linna left the building. They then watched Sylia lock the door and turned off the lights.

"Uh, Mackie?"

"Don't worry. I've got a spare key to get in."

"That's not really what I was going to ask. Do you know what Sylia needed Linna for?"

"Beats me," he answered with a shrug, "Anyways, I'd better turn in before my sister notices I'm gone and starts looking," with that he went up and unlocked the door, gently kissed the blonde goodbye, and went inside. Nene smiled to herself as she touched her lips where he'd kissed her. She then turned around, got on her scooter, and rode off.

---The Next Day---

Priss was using a drumstick to try to reach an itch underneath the cast on her right arm as she stood on the stage with Sekiria. The band had been practicing a new opening song Priss had picked out for tomorrow. Thrilled to be finally getting her damn cast off tomorrow, she wanted a song of triumph to announce Sekiria's return to the stage, and had decided on a song she'd been a fan of since her teen years. While Priss didn't normally like doing cover songs, she couldn't resist this one; she even had Nene find a site on the internet that had a Japanese translation of the lyrics.

Unfortunately, she and the rest of the band were running into problems due to the fact that the song was originally in English. In order for Priss to get the Japanese version of the lyrics to fit the beat, she found herself having to sing some of the lyrics faster than she was normally comfortable with, and after an hour and a half of tripping over lyrics and messing up on the tempo both she and her band mates were getting frustrated.

"Okay guys," she said as she swept some of her hair back away from her eyes and passed the stick back to her drummer, "We're finally getting there. Let's just try it one more time."

"Right." the drummer sighed as the guitarist began playing the beginning power cords. Priss grabbed the mike with her good hand, tapping her foot on the stage floor and silently counting the beats in time with the bass to make sure she had the rhythm right. Finally she jumped in, singing out the lyrics like a woman possessed.

_Back in black,_

_I hit the sack,_

_I bet you know I'm glad to be back,_

_Yes, I'm let loose,_

_From the noose,_

_That's kept me hanging about..._

------

"Uh, miss... are you sure this isn't too revealing?" the woman asked, at first trying to pull the dress down in order to cover more of her legs, but very quickly stopping when she realized she was pulling the top down with it.

"Oh my!" Sylia said, smiling as she brought her hands together, "It looks wonderful on you! The red really brings out and contrasts nicely with the color of your hair. You simply must buy it! You owe it to yourself, as well as that special someone in your life," she added with a wink.

"Really, well... mind if I try on one of the others I was looking at?"

"Of course not," she answered, "You know where the changing room is. But I'm telling you; you're going to want that red dress."

Sylia's cell phone suddenly rang. She waited until her customer was in the changing room, and answered, "Hello?"

"Hello Sylia," the familiar voice said on the other line. Sylia smiled fondly as a warm feeling welled up within her. Her face then took on a mischievous look.

"Hey lover," she teased playfully, hearing Linna giggle like a giddy school girl on the other end of the line.

"Sylia," Linna said exasperatedly, "I'm at work, remember?"

"Sorry," she answered, "Old habits die hard. Are we still on for tonight?"

"Of course we are," the younger woman answered reassuringly. After a few seconds, she said in a lower voice, "I miss you."

"I miss you too," Sylia answered affectionately. She frowned when she heard a sound coming from the dressing room, "Linna, I can't talk long. I've got a customer right now, but how does nine o'clock tonight sound?"

"Sounds great," Linna answered.

"Wonderful. I've already made reservations at a restaurant downtown. I'll be there to pick you up tonight then."

"Okay," she said happily, adding, "Take care."

"You too," Sylia answered regretfully as she hung up. Just then she heard the dressing room door open, put on her best fake smile, and went back to work.

---Later That Evening---

Nene stood impatiently in front of the microwave in her small apartment, waiting for the bag of popcorn to finish popping. Finally, she smiled as the last of the kernels popped. She opened the microwave door, grabbed the hot bag with one hand as she picked up two cold drinks with the other, and hurried through the obstacle course of computer terminals and wires in her living room to the couch where Mackie was already sitting. Passing one of the drinks and the bag of popcorn to him, she grabbed the TV remote, taking a sip of her drink as she turned the set on.

Ten minutes into the feature, Mackie raised an eyebrow, "So, is that giant turtle thing the villain?" he asked.

Nene laughed, "No silly! That's Gamera, defender of the Earth," she said, striking a pose with her arm up in the air. "The aliens coming in the next scene are the bad guys."

"Oh, you've seen this before?"

"Once," she answered, adding, "So did you invite Sylia over like I suggested?"

Mackie nodded, adding, "She actually seemed a bit touched you invited her, but she said she already had plans."

"Meh, her loss," Nene said as she popped a few kernels into her mouth, "I mean, what in the world could possibly be more fun than watching giant monster movies?"

------

Linna looked one more time nervously in the mirror. She wasn't sure where she and Sylia were going tonight, but knowing Sylia it would be fancy. She's bought the form-fitting black dress she was wearing after work, as well as the black pumps and green earrings.

She still couldn't quite believe this was happening. She was going out on a date with Sylia Stingray. As she was debating whether or not to wear a necklace, she heard her doorbell ring. Quickly grabbing her coat, she put it on as she rushed from her bedroom through her apartment to the door.

"Hello Sylia," she said as she opened the door, "I..." she forgot the rest of what she was going to say as she caught sight of the Knight Saber's leader. Sylia was dressed in a white skirt with a slit going up her right leg that ended just below her thigh, silver high heeled pumps, and a tight fitting black low-cut top with a white jacket on over it. Her hair, as usual, was stylishly pulled back with a blue bow. Sylia, seeing Linna dressed in her little black number, was likewise struck dumb as she admired the office lady's beauty.

"So," Sylia said, finding her voice first, "Are you ready to go?"

"Hmm? Oh, oh right," Linna answered embarrassedly as she grabbed her purse and left her apartment arm and arm with her date for the evening.

------

Priss took a sip of beer as Leon grabbed another slice of pizza. This was one of their favorite hangouts, a sports bar on the outskirts of the city near her trailer. As the singer set her drink down, she raised an eyebrow.

"How many slices have you had so far?" she asked. Leon looked at her questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we got a medium pan pizza with eight slices, and someone around here ate more than his share."

"Oh for the love of... You want me to get us another pizza?" he asked irritably.

Priss smirked, "Nah, that's fine," she said, adding, "I love getting you going, you know that?"

"Heh, so I've noticed," he answered.

Priss took another sip of her beer before saying more seriously, "Thanks again."

"For?"

"For talking to Nene you big goof."

"Oh, right," he said as he took another bite of his pizza, "So how's Sylia doing?"

"I haven't seen her today," she admitted, "I've been rehearsing with the band all day, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Leon muttered.

"I'm sure she's fine though. Linna's been able to stay with her more often than I have."

"Yeah, I noticed," he said with a smirk, "You don't suppose those two are..." he was cut off as Priss kicked him in the shin.

"Pervert," she said, smiling with amusement as Leon clutched his leg painfully.

------

Linna and Sylia were laughing warmheartedly in the small private dining booth as a waitress came over with their food, setting their meals before them. The restaurant, one of the most opulent in Mega Tokyo, had a four-star rating. As the waitress left, Sylia picked up the conversation from where they'd left off.

"So let me get this straight," she asked, "On various occasions, your dad tried setting you up with a cousin who was a plumber, a neighbor who was a school gym coach, and a traffic warden?"

"Don't forget the bus driver," Linna said, at which point the two started laughing once again. More seriously, she added "I suppose in a way he may have suspected my sexuality. I mean, other girls played with dolls, and I ran track and field."

"I suppose," Sylia answered, picking up her chopsticks and separating them. As Linna watched her, she ventured to ask a question that had been nagging at her all night.

"Sylia," she began, "Just out of curiosity, how were you able to get a private booth in this restaurant on such short notice? They must have some sort of waiting list, don't they?"

"Well," her date answered with a mischievous grin, "The Silky Doll is not the only business venture my family fortune has made available to me, you know."

Linna's eyes widened, "You mean..."

Sylia nodded as she went for a piece of fish on her plate, "This restaurant and two others, as well as an art gallery. I..." she stopped when the bit of fish fell from her chopsticks. Looking down, she saw that her hand was shaking again. 'Damn,' she thought bitterly to herself, looking at her hand helplessly as feelings of anger and embarrassment rose up within her. 'Why does this have to happen now of all times?' she thought as she bit her lower lip like a small child who had done something wrong.

Just then, a second pair of chopsticks reached over to her plate and picked up the fish she'd dropped. She looked up, her grey eyes meeting the tender, understanding blue eyes of Linna as the younger woman held the fish up to her with her chopsticks. Sylia looked at her silently a few seconds before smiling warmly at her, her eyes never leaving her date's as she opened her mouth and allowed Linna to help her with her meal.

After a dinner in which the younger Knight Saber took turns feeding herself and her date, the two left, Sylia opting to let her date drive them. When they arrived back at the apartment, Linna opened her front door and turned to her.

"I... I'm not in the habit of inviting strangers back to my apartment," she began, "But... If you have no plans..."

Sylia smiled as she reached up, gently stroking Linna's cheek, "I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be tonight than here with you," she said, leaning forward and kissing the younger woman passionately as she shut the apartment door behind her.

-To Be Continued-


	5. Chapter 5

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

Sylia woke up slowly, opening her eyes a crack as she allowed a yawn to escape. Linna was still asleep; the younger woman's nude body snuggled close to hers as her head rested near her leader's chest. As Sylia watched her sleep, she thought back on last night.

--

Linna had grown up in the country, under the strict and watchful eyes of her parents. Her dates with the men her folks had tried to set her up with never went very far due to her curfew and her lack of interest in the opposite sex, and she knew of no lesbians in the small town she came from. As a result, she was still something of a virgin.

And now, here she was in her bedroom with another woman. No, not just another woman; she was with the elegant and beautiful Sylia Stingray. She was nervous, afraid of not doing the right thing or somehow not living up to Sylia's expectations.

Sylia meanwhile had removed her skirt and was in the process of taking off her top when she noticed the other woman was looking away, "Linna?" she asked, "Is everything alright?"

Linna took a deep breath and looked at her, "Sylia," she began, her face blushing a bit from embarrassment, "I... I've never..."

Sylia smiled as she gently took Linna's hand, leading the timid woman over to the bed where they both sat down. She then put her arm around her, holding her tenderly as she looked once again into her beautiful blue eyes.

"Linna," she said softly, "If you're scared, or want to hold off..."

"No," she answered as she shook her head, "I want to Sylia. I... I just... You're so beautiful, and I..."

Sylia tilted her head, "You're afraid of disappointing me, right?"

Linna lowered her eyes as she nodded. Sylia reached over and began to run her fingers through the other woman's hair, "Linna, you could never disappoint me. You've been there for me when I needed a friend the most these past weeks, and I've had a wonderful time with you tonight. And now, rather than worrying about pleasing me, let me worry about returning the favor to you," she said as she leaned forward and kissed her. They fell back on the bed, Linna allowing a small gasp to escape as Sylia lowered her hand and cupped her right breast.

--

Sylia smiled fondly at the memories. Linna had allowed her to take the lead, surrendering herself totally to her hands, mouth and tongue. She remembered the younger woman panting under her, thrusting her hips as her muscles tensed up, and calling out her name at the moment of release. As she looked as her now sleeping form, she once again recalled holding her weary form in her arms last night. She'd been right too; Linna had been a quick learner, and when she'd recovered and began to make love to Sylia, she most certainly did not disappoint her.

She leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. Linna stirred a bit and opened her eyes.

"Good morning," Sylia whispered.

Linna looked at her sleepily for a few seconds before the corners of her lips twisted up into a smile. "'Morning," she said as she gave Sylia a light peck on the lips. She then snuggled closer as the older woman wrapped her arms around her. They lay together silently for several minutes, enjoying the sweet intimacy of the moment.

Finally, Linna spoke up again, "Sylia, it's Saturday," she said, her voice sounding a bit down, "You're going to have to go back to open the Silky Doll soon."

Sylia sighed heavily as she hugged her closer, "You'll come to visit for lunch?" she asked.

Linna leaned in, "Just try to keep me away," she said as she kissed her tenderly. They pulled back, and Sylia sat up. As Linna gazed at the older woman's topless form admiringly, the leader of the Knight Sabers looked over to a wall clock hanging in the bedroom.

"Seven fifteen," she read. A smile slowly spread upon her face, "And the Doll opens at nine-thirty on Saturdays..."

"Really?" Linna asked as she narrowed her eyes. "Gee, what would you suggest we do in the meantime?" she asked with a smirk as she stroked Sylia's upper arm.

Sylia moved back over to Linna, "I think I can come up with something," she purred as she lowered herself on top of her fellow Knight Saber.

------

Mackie walked into the living room as the sun slowly rose upon a new day and found Henderson already up and dusting the coffee table.

"Good morning Henderson."

The butler turned around, smiling cordially as he bowed, "Good morning master Mackie."

As Mackie walked further into the room he looked around, "Is sis up yet?"

"No," he answered, adding, "She isn't here."

Mackie looked at Henderson with concern in his face, "She's not here? Where is she?"

"She called last night," he explained, "She stayed over at Miss Yamazaki's."

Mackie tilted his head a bit at that, "I wonder why she stayed there," he asked as he turned and headed towards the elevator. Henderson watched him go with a bemused smirk; after Sylia's mother died, it was Henderson who dried her tears while her father was doing his research. And when her father was later killed by Galatia, again it was he whom the young child went to for comfort.

He knew her better than most, and he'd seen how much Linna had been around during her recovery. Unlike Mackie, he wasn't blind to what was happening. And knowing how much Linna obviously seemed to care for her, he was happy to know Sylia had not only found happiness with another person since Nigel's death, but that she'd found it with someone as sweet and down to earth as the country girl seemed to be.

"Good for her," he muttered to himself as he returned to his dusting.

-That Afternoon-

Priss sat in the hospital waiting room, watching the clock slowly tick away the minutes. Next to her sat Nene, the blonde eating chips as she absentmindedly skimmed through a tabloid from the magazine rack. The little computer whiz had volunteered to come along to keep her company while waiting. The bland muzak playing over the intercom, as well as the smell of disinfectant, was slowly getting on the singer's nerves.

"Look at this," Nene muttered as she read one of the articles about an actor who left his wife for another woman, "Can you believe that guy?"

"Of course I can," Priss said irritably as she pointed at the picture in the magazine, "The other woman has bigger tits."

"Priss!" Nene shrieked. The brunette was no longer listening though as she got up and strode over to the reception desk.

"Hello," the boomer behind the desk said, "Can I help you?"

Priss narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, you can help me. I've been sitting next to Pollyanna over there for the last hour waiting to get this god damned cast off my arm. Now what the fuck is the holdup?"

"Priss," Nene said as she came over, "There's no need to make a scene, we..."

"The doctor will see you shortly," the boomer receptionist reassured, "Meantime, why not take a look at some of the magazines in the waiting room or..."

"You know what you can do with your magazines," Priss growled just before Nene grabbed her good arm and yanked her away.

"Priss," Nene said when they were back in their seats, "You didn't have to do that."

"Nene, I've had this stupid thing on my arm for over a month now. I want it off."

"Sheesh, you don't have to be a grouch though. And I heard that 'Pollyanna' comment. If you want me to leave..."

"(sigh) No, you don't have to leave," Priss muttered as she rolled her eyes. As annoying as the little computer geek was, she at least was serving to keep the singer occupied while she waited. "So, how did last night go with you and Mackie?" she asked, deciding to change the subject.

"It was okay," she answered, "We invited Sylia to come over, but she declined."

"I don't doubt it," Priss smirked, "I could just imagine her in one of her business suits trying to maneuver through that junkyard you call a living room."

"It's not a junkyard!" Nene said defensively, "It's my collection of antique computers. And according to Mackie she couldn't come over because she already had plans with Linna or something."

Priss raised an eyebrow at that. She thought back to her conversation with Leon the previous night. Sylia and Linna had been spending a lot of time together since the leader of the Knight Sabers had gone sober. Could the big lummox have actually been onto something...

"Miss Asagiri," the receptionist called out as a door to the side opened, "The doctor will see you now."

"About time," the singer grumbled, setting thoughts of Linna and Sylia aside as she headed in to get her cast off.

------

Sylia cashed out the customer, glancing at her wristwatch as she did so. As the woman who'd purchased the lacy underwear with the three bras and a pair of stockings opened the door to leave, the familiar sound of Linna's moped was heard as it pulled up to the curb. The leader of the Knight Sabers felt her heart flutter as the younger woman came in carrying a small bag.

"Sorry I'm a bit late," she said as she reached into her bag, pulling out a bento box and chop sticks. She passed them to Sylia as she explained, "I would've been here sooner, but I didn't finish making these until just before I left."

Sylia opened the small boxed lunch, "You fixed this?" she asked as Linna pulled her own box out.

"Yes," she said as she opened the lid of her own lunch, "So eat it now, while there are no customers around and it's still warm."

"Of course," Sylia answered as she reached over and cupped Linna's cheek, "Just as long as you're there to help again if I need it like last night."

Linna blushed sweetly at the compliment, as well as Sylia's touch. "Sylia," she said as she looked around, "We're in public."

Sylia sighed, "Of course," she said, grabbing some of the lunch with her chopsticks. She was about to eat when she saw Linna lower her head.

"Itadakimasu," Linna said. She then looked back up and started to eat.

Sylia smiled, "Itadakimasu," she said, repeating the meal blessing. The rest of the meal was spent in quiet conversation about customers, boomer managers, and other casual small talk.

At last, the meal was over. As Linna was packing the bento boxes back away, a young woman came in and began looking around at some of the dresses.

"Miss," she asked Sylia, "can you help me pick something out for a dinner date?"

"Of course ma'am. I just need to take care of something first in the back. Linna," she said as she turned to her fellow Knight Saber, "Could you come in the back with me to give me a hand?"

"Huh?" Linna asked, "Oh, sure," she said as she followed her into the back room behind the cash register. Once the door was closed behind them, Sylia pulled her over, pressing her lips hard into hers as she cradled the back of Linna's head in her hand. Linna closed her eyes as her tongue met Sylia's, her arms wrapping around her as she pressed her leader into the wall behind her.

Their lips separated as Sylia pulled back, "I've been waiting to do that since you came in," she whispered as she kissed the side of Linna's throat.

Linna's jaw went slack as Sylia continued to plant warm kissed along her jaw line, "Mmmm... Sylia," she whispered, "Your customer..."

"I know," she answered, "Tonight then?"

"Tonight," Linna answered, bringing her lips back to Sylia's.

A few minutes later, the customer looking at the evening gowns watched as Sylia and Linna walked out of the back room, both women's clothing looking a bit ruffled. As Sylia went to take care of her customer Linna left the store, straightening her hair out a bit as she left.

-Evening-

She stood back stage in her black leather rock-goddess outfit, stalking back and forth as she heard the sounds of the audience gathered at Hot Legs waiting for tonight.

For her.

"And now," the owner of Hot Legs Tony Ishimura finally announced from the stage, "Back by popular demand, Sekiria with Priss!"

Priss strode out onto the stage like a panther stalking her prey. As the audience cheered and the band went to their instruments, she grabbed the mike stand and held it high over her head, causing the concert goers to go into a frenzy. She smiled self-satisfactorily; she could read audiences well. Tonight was going to be a good night.

"Are you ready?" she screamed into the mike as the opening bars of the new song they were doing began. The roar of approval that came back to her left little doubt to the answer to her question.

------

The construction boomer was an old type 2-F model, a virtual dinosaur of a machine that was being used on the site by the contractors to cut construction costs. The older boomer was missing most of the newer updates intended to safeguard more recent boomer models from potentially going rogue.

Late in the evening, it lumbered to the main charger station, plugging itself in along with several other boomers as they powered up to continue the work on the new office center into the night. If the AD Police ever found the 2-F model, the construction company would face heavy fines and no doubt loose their contract. The potential for higher profit using the cost-cutting procedure though was enough to make them risk it.

Unfortunately, something wasn't right with this particular 2-F. As it stood there plugged into the charger, its core went bad. The boomer's form started to slowly deform as it went rogue. Equally unfortunate was the fact that it began to infect the other boomers plugged into the charger with its defect.

Looking up into the darkening sky, the older boomer gave out a metallic yell as tentacles shot out of its back.

Two blocks away from the construction site, Nene sat in a restaurant across from Mackie, the blonde eating a large sundae as her boyfriend nursed a milkshake.

"So how was Priss today?" Mackie asked.

Nene rolled her eyes, "You know Priss. Geez, she can be such an old poo, I swear. I..." the blonde was cut off as an explosion shook the building. Both she and Mackie ran outside to see people running in fear down the street.

"What's happening?" Mackie asked a frightened man in a construction hat who was running by.

"Rogue boomers!" he yelled, adding "Run for your life!" as he ran away from him. Mackie turned around to see Nene running for her scooter. The blonde waved him over, and he sat behind her.

"We have to get back to the Silky Doll quick," Nene said as she weaved the scooter through traffic and frightened pedestrians, "Quick, call Linna," she ordered as she took a sharp turn.

Mackie reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone, hitting Linna's number on speed dial. After two rings, he heard the phone being picked up.

"Hey sexy," a sultry voice purred.

Mackie pulled the phone away with a stunned look on his face. He stared at it for a second or two, and then put it back to his ear. "Linna?"

"Eep... Mackie?" Linna gasped, realizing the "Stingray" on the caller I. D. wasn't the one she'd been hoping for. She could actually feel her face turn red. "Uh, er... What's up?"

"Rogue boomers. Meet me and Nene over at Sylia's."

"Roger," she said. She then quickly took off the green dress she was wearing, put a blouse and pants on, and raced out the door of her apartment to her moped.

------

Sylia rubbed her temples as her headache continued to nag her. Her hand had been trembling a bit for the last half-hour, but nowhere near as badly as it was at dinner last night. She decided when she went to pick Linna up later that she would ask if they could just stay there tonight and maybe order out. She wasn't feeling her best right now, and all she wanted was to just rest her head on Linna's shoulder while the other woman held her close.

For now though, she had to first close the Silky Doll before she left. As her headache continued to plague her, she reflected how easy it would be to just wash down two or three aspirin or other painkillers with a shot of brandy. But of course she'd sworn off alcohol, as well as her little junior pharmacy she had in her medicine cabinet. As she was about to lock the door, she heard it; Linna's moped. Her fellow Knight Saber must've decided to come and visit her at her place instead. She smiled as she saw her girlfriend park the small vehicle and get off.

Her smile quickly faded as she saw the look on Linna's face, as well as Nene and Mackie racing around the curb to park next to the office lady's moped. Linna reached the building first, bursting through the door.

"Linna," Sylia asked as she ran to keep up with her, "What..."

"Rogue boomers," she called over her shoulder. She and Sylia entered the secret elevator, and were soon joined by Nene and Mackie. As the elevator quickly descended, Sylia hid her shaking hand behind her as her head continued to throb.

------

As Linna and Nene leaped from one roof to the other, Sylia began to think about how ridiculous the situation was. What the hell were people thinking keeping the boomers around, especially after the whole Galatia incident? She remembered volunteering to give a speech to the Japanese Parliament, as the daughter of the man who invented boomers, on why boomer technology should be abandoned.

The letter she got back politely told her to stick to selling women's lingerie and keep her nose out of politics.

"Um, sis?"

Sylia turned to Mackie as she continued to massage her temples, "Yes?"

"Are... Are you sure you should be here?" he asked, "I mean..."

Sylia put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll be fine," she reassured, "Besides, I am the leader of the Knight Sabers. I have to get back into the swing of things some time." She then turned her attention to the command center in front of her as she spoke into a speaker, "Linna, Nene, are you there yet?"

"Yeah," Linna answered, "We... Good god..."

"What?" Sylia asked in alarm, "What is it?"

"Sylia," Nene broke in, "This thing looks like it's made up of a bunch of boomers fused together somehow."

"What? Mackie, get over to the control panel and get me visual," she ordered crisply, adding, "Any word yet from Priss?"

"No, nothing. She must still be performing. I've left nine messages already."

"How many encores does that woman need?" she asked exasperatedly as the shake in her hand seemed to increase.

Mackie meanwhile got his sister the visuals on the monitors around her so she could see what the two Knight Sabers out on the field were seeing. The thing lurching towards them was made up of six or seven construction boomers fused together, arms and legs of two of them becoming twisted into claw like fingers. Long, grotesque tentacles stretched into the night sky from it. It towered a good twelve to thirteen feet above the young women looking up at it.

"Nene, you try to attract its attention," Linna commanded, "I'll start work on the tentacles. Let me know when your sensors pick up the core."

"Will do." Nene said, as she fired her needles at the monster's face. Linna leaped up to begin cutting away at the tentacles with her ribbon cutters.

Then everything went to hell.

One of the thing's hands reached out and grabbed the ribbon cutters, leaving Linna suddenly dangling helplessly off the ground. It then swung her, hard, towards a brick wall.

"Fuck..." was all Linna was able to get out before impact.

"Linna!" Nene and Sylia both screamed in unison.

Nene's scream got the boomer's attention. Using the ribbon cutters as a sling shot, it swung Linna into her, knocking them both into a steel girder. Linna's visual feed abruptly cut out.

"Linna!" Sylia screamed, "Nene! Answer me, damn it!"

------

"Hello? Anyone? Hello?" Linna finally gasped out. The wind had been knocked out of her when she had landed, and she was still seeing spots before her eyes. All around her she could hear noises; crashes, scrapping, the roar of the boomer; but she couldn't see anything. She tried to get up, but couldn't move.

'Am I paralyzed?' she thought. She tried to wiggle her toes, sighing with relief when she succeeded. But she still had no audio feed, no monitor to show her what was happening around her, and her suit was frozen in place.

"The son-of-a-bitch smashed my internal battery," she muttered to herself. In the old suits, even when the battery went dead, you could still force some movement out of it. Such was not the case with the second generation suits. Her mind raced back to Priss telling her about when her suit went dead in the last battle against Galatia, how she couldn't move anything at all. In Priss' case, she had the Motoslave to come save the day.

Nigel had said it was a simple design flaw with the liquid metal. Not to worry he told her and the others, he'd have it worked out eventually. Unfortunately, he was killed before he could work out the problem. And since Linna didn't have a motoslave of her own to come rescue her, the only thing standing between her and that hulking monstrosity out there was Nene.

Being cut off and unable to move, she also realized there was no way to let anyone know she was still alive. And with her hardsuit's power gone, there was no way to recycle air and no way to open her visor. If someone didn't help her, and fast, it was only a question of whether or not the boomer or carbon dioxide poisoning did her in, and she knew it.

------

"Linna! Linna!" Nene was screaming at the figure on the ground.

Nothing. No movement. Not a word.

Nothing.

Sylia, for her part, was watching the visuals coming in from Nene's visor with a horrified look in her eyes. "No," she whimpered, clutching the sides of her head as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes, "Not again. Please..."

"Sylia, Mackie, what do I do?" Nene cried out, "Where's Priss? Sylia!"

Sylia stood up and ran at top speed to the room with the suit chambers, stripping her clothes off along the way as fast as she could with her shaky hands.

"Sis," Mackie asked, panic evident in his voice, "what are you doing?"

"Initiate the liquid metal immersion!" she commanded as she ran into the room.

"What?" he asked incredulously, "Sis, you can't..."

"The fuck I can't!" she yelled as the door shut behind her, "I'm going in!"

-To be continued-

End Notes: A bento box is a type of traditional Japanese lunch box. Also, "Itadakimasu" is the traditional meal blessing said before meals in Japan and roughly translates to "I humbly receive." Coming from the country, it occurred to me that Linna would probably say the traditional Shinto prayer before eating her lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

"Mackie!" Nene cried out as she gripped her side in pain where she'd made contact with the steel girder, "Sylia! Anybody?" she whimpered as she stared at the hulking monstrosity standing between her and Linna's prone form, "Where are you?"

"I'm right here," Mackie's voice suddenly came in.

"Mackie! Where did you go just now? What am I supposed to do? She still isn't moving Mackie, I..."

"Nene, I need you to calm down," Mackie said, his voice betraying his own anxiety, "Help is coming."

"Priss?" Nene asked hopefully.

"No, Sylia."

There was a moment of silence, then, "What?" the blonde asked in disbelief.

------

She landed hard on the roof, the built in thrusters launching her into the air before she was fully prepared. She silently cursed her timing as the throbbing behind her eyes continued. As the buildings underneath her flew by and she started to descend again, she realized she wasn't going to make the roof.

"Shit," she growled as the jet pack on her back gave forth a small burst, carrying her the needed distance to land on the building. This wasn't good; she helped design the suits and fought on countless missions. Hell, she was the leader of the Knight Sabers. The way she was stumbling around one would think it was her first time in a hardsuit.

The trembling in her hands wasn't helping either.

"Concentrate," she whispered to herself as she took a running start on the roof, launching herself once again into the night.

------

Priss finally made it into her dressing room. After two encores, autograph signings, and the offer from a representative of MTV Japan to do a reality show about herself as an up and coming pop star, she was exhausted. Elated, but exhausted. She went to her makeup mirror, and noted the red light flashing on her cell phone, meaning she'd had messages left for her during the concert. Not giving her number out to too many people, she was expecting to see two or three messages at the most.

The phone showed she had twenty-one.

She hit the button to listen to the most recent one as she wiped the sweat off her face with a towel. She dropped the towel to the floor as she listened to the message and the panic in Mackie's voice.

"No," she gasped.

As the rest of Sekiria were making their way back to the dressing room, the door flung open as a leather-clad streak ran by them and out the exit.

------

The behemoth made up of construction boomers roared at Nene, its legs spread apart in a fighting stance. Behind it lay Linna's prone body. Nene knew that if Linna was alive, and if she was going to survive, then she had to do something now.

She ran at it, firing her needles into its face once again as her sensors continued searching for its core. Before she could get too close though, the thing used one of its appendages to swat her aside, knocking her into a pile of sheet metal. As the blonde looked up painfully at the boomer, she regretted the fact that her hardsuit hadn't been designed more for close combat.

Then she remembered something. She fought back the pain and fear she was feeling as she concentrated. "Suit," she whispered, "I release you. Help me."

The liquid metal around her right arm started to re-shape itself as if it had a mind of its own. When it finished, Nene found she had a shiny pink curved blade at the end of her arm.

'Here goes nothing,' she thought as she leapt at the thing. Slashing at tentacles as they reached for her, she almost made it to the head before one of the tentacles again grabbed her, dangling her upside down in front of its misshapen face. She was about to slash at it, when something silvery flew by, cutting the tentacle off for her.

"Sylia!" Nene exclaimed as she landed.

"Nene, are you alright?"

"I've been better," the blonde quipped.

"Anything from Linna?"

"No, nothing," she answered emotionally, fighting the urge to cry.

Sylia was desperately fighting to keep it together, and a hysterical Nene wasn't helping. She hadn't been out in a hardsuit in close to a month, not since the night of the intervention. She looked over at the still body of the woman she'd fallen in love with over the past month, and she could already feel the pain of loss as she was being taken away from her.

"I've been trying to scan the thing, looking for some sort of a shared core."

Her love was once more being snatched away from her by a damned boomer. She was going to be left alone again.

"So far nothing," Nene continued, "And I can't get past the thing to check on Linna. Sylia, what do we do?"

Why had she tried so hard to sober up and get her life back on track? Why had she been suffering DTs, night sweats, and all the rest? What had been the point, when the woman she'd done it all for was most probably gone?

"Sylia?" Nene asked, "Sylia, are you listening to me?"

She looked up at the monster in front of her with unbridled hate in her eyes.

"You fucking bastard!" she screamed, the blade of her arm whizzing through the air as she charged at it.

------

The AD Police car came barreling over the hill fast enough for its tires to leave the pavement. It landed with a thud a few seconds later, its shocks bouncing as it screeched around a corner, sirens blaring.

"Leon, are you nuts?" Daley cried as the turn pressed him into the side window, "You're going to get us killed! And what's with the anti-boomer bazooka in the back seat?"

"I just got a call from Mackie!" Leon answered as he streaked through a red light, "Linna and Nene are in trouble!"

"What?" Daley asked, watching as people were running for their lives to the sidewalks and out of the cruiser's way. "Our shift ended eight minutes ago! If we're caught with our sirens on going this fast down the street on off time with a bazooka in the back..."

"Look," Leon said while doing a left turn that made Daley's stomach churn, "They're in trouble, and they can't find Priss. You want out, tell me now and I'll pull over."

Daley looked at Leon as he pondered what could possibly be out there that was so terrible the Knight Sabers would need their help? He then thought of all the times the four women had been there for them...

"Did you manage to snag us an extra bazooka?" he finally asked as the Police car continued to race towards the construction site. Leon smiled.

"It's in the trunk," he answered as he managed to sideswipe a garbage can while taking another sharp right.

------

Breaking the speed limit (as well as a host of other traffic laws) Priss finally made it to the Silky Doll. She cursed herself for not getting done sooner as she unlocked the entrance doors and raced to the secret elevator located in the changing room, pushing the down button as she entered it.

"Come on, damn it," she growled as she waited for the elevator to reach the bottom floor. Finally the door opened and she ran out, heading into the command center.

"Priss!" Mackie cried as he looked away from the screens in front of him, "Where have you been?"

"Never mind that now," Priss snapped, "What's the situation?" she asked as she took her leather jacket off and threw it on a nearby chair.

"Linna's down," Mackie answered, "She's not responding, and we can't get any linkup to her hardsuit to check to see if she's just unconscious or..."

Priss didn't want to hear the "or," "Where's your sister?" she asked, cutting him off as she removed her boots.

"Out at the scene in her suit."

"What?" Priss asked in shock. Sylia was in no condition to be out in the field right now, and she knew it. "Right," she said as she ran back towards the armor room, "Get the chamber ready," she ordered, adding under her breath, "I'm coming guys. Hold on."

------

Linna's evening was not going as planned.

She had planned on another romantic dinner with Sylia. She'd bought a bouquet of roses for her, intending to make sure that after last nights passionate encounter Sylia understood that her feelings for her were more than physical. After being allowed to see a softer, more vulnerable side of her leader during the past few weeks, she found herself falling in love with her, and wanted to share that with her.

Instead, she was stuck out here at a construction site in a dead hardsuit with what sounded like a vicious battle going on around her. She'd tried setting her suit free so it could open her visor, but without power it was a futile effort. Her body ached from the fight, and she could feel what air was left to her getting progressively stuffy and stale. She'd been trying to keep her breathing controlled, but she knew that the minutes were ticking away and she was slowly suffocating. "No doubt about it," she thought to herself, "sometimes, being a superhero sucks."

She had only one option left, and it was a long shot. During the boomer revolution, the Knight Sabers had managed to create a psychic link on several occasions. Of course, the last time any of them had tried anything like it since was when Priss used the link to let them know where she'd landed after she fell from orbit. Still, it might work...

She closed her eyes and began to focus on the first person that came to mind.

------

Sylia had managed to cut the thing's right arm off. As the appendage reformed itself into a construction boomer, she forced her blade into it and crushed its core.

"Nene," she yelled as she extracted her shaking hand from the boomer, "Tearing it apart and destroying each of these boomers individually is going to take too much time!" she ignored the searing pain in her head as she ducked out of the way of another tentacle, "Can't you locate its core?"

"I'm trying, but it's..."

Nene's voice disappeared as Sylia suddenly found herself alone in a dark, confined space. She felt trapped, unable to move and struggling to breath.

"_Help me_," a weak voice whispered.

Then, the voice, disappeared, as well as the darkness and the confinement.

"...Like the core is being guarded somehow by a... Sylia?" Nene asked in alarm as she watched her leader sink to her knees clutching at the sides of her head, "Sylia, what..."

"She's still alive."

"What?"

Sylia looked up at Nene as she rose to her feet determinedly, "She just contacted me. She's still alive, but we've got to get to her now!" she added as she turned away from the pink Knight Saber to launch herself at the gigantic boomer with renewed vigor, her sword once again shooting forth from her arm. Nene ran in after her, her own blade slicing through the monster's appendages as she continued to search for a possible shared core.

After several minutes, frustration began to set in.

"This is no good," Nene cried, "We can't get close enough to do any real damage because of these stupid tentacles!"

"Then we go back to taking it down one piece at a time, Damn it!" Sylia answered, panic evident in her voice, "It's still between us and Linna, I..." her voice died off as she caught sight of something blue racing towards them in the night sky, its body silhouetted against the waning moon, "About fucking time," she muttered.

Nene looked over to Sylia in confusion at the last remark when Priss suddenly shot down from nowhere onto the thing's back. The combined boomer was caught completely off guard, all its attention focused on the silver and pink Knight Sabers in front of it.

"Priss!" Nene exclaimed.

"Now, Sylia!" Priss shouted as she began to rip, tear and pound at anything she could get her hands on, "I'll keep the son of a bitch occupied, go get Linna!"

Sylia leaped over to Linna, just avoiding one of the flailing members. She quickly opened Linna's visor. The younger woman's eyes were bulging as she took a huge gasp of air. Sylia held her in her arms as the younger woman began to cough.

"Nene," Priss yelled as a tentacle reached up and wrapped around her waist, "Where the fuck is the core?"

"I've found it!" the blonde cried triumphantly, "Two feet below its head! I'm transferring the info to your screen!"

The data was transferred, but before Priss could make use of it the thing tightened the appendage around her waist and threw her to the ground. It then raised its one remaining arm to smash the blue Knight Saber, when its attention was caught by the approaching sound of a police siren. Priss and the others looked on as the chain link fence surrounding the construction site gave way with a crash as an AD Police cruiser came bounding into the fight.

"Daley, take the wheel!" Leon shouted.

"Wha... Why? What are you planning to..." Daley's voice died off as he watched Leon grab the bazooka from the back and lean out the driver's side window with it, "Holy shit," he gasped just before his partner fired. The resulting explosion shattered the windshield of the police cruiser and took the boomer's head off. Leon roared out in pain as the recoil popped his shoulder out of socket.

Priss smirked to herself as she picked herself up off the ground.

"That's my man," she quipped as she leapt back up on the monster, finally smashing the thing's combined core. As it collapsed to the ground motionless, the AD Police car skidded to a halt. Daley and Leon, clutching his arm to his side, exited the vehicle and walked over to the two Knight Sabers standing by the huge corpse.

"Shit," Leon groaned, "My arm..."

"Well no one told you to fire that thing while you were still in the car." Daley said, his ears still ringing from being so close to Leon when he fired.

"What are you two doing here anyways?" Priss asked.

"Mackie called us when he couldn't reach you." Leon said. Priss looked away, unable to look at him or anyone else. Because of her, Linna was almost killed, Sylia was forced back into action way too soon, and her boyfriend suffered a dislocated shoulder. Nene noticed Priss' reaction and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, cheer up," she said, "You didn't know any of this was going to happen. Besides, you, Daley and Leon Poo were still here in time to save the day."

Priss put her hand over Nene's hand and turned towards her. "Thanks," she said, adding, "Let's go and check up on Linna and Sylia."

------

Sylia had removed Linna's helmet as well as her own. She was cradling her in her arms, her headache forgotten for the moment as their cheeks touched.

"Are you alright?" she asked as a tear gently ran down her cheek.

"I am, now that you're here," Linna answered softly, "Sylia?"

"Yes?"

"Before all this happened, there was something I was going to tell you."

Sylia looked at her questioningly, "What?" she asked, not quite sure where this was going.

Linna swallowed hard, "I love you," she said as her own eyes started to tear up. It was the first time either woman had said she loved the other, and part of her feared that she might scare her off by saying it out loud. As she gazed at Sylia's though, she saw a look of joy spread over her leader's face.

"Linna," Sylia whispered tenderly as she leaned towards her "I love you too." She pressed her lips to the green Knight Sabers, both women tasting each other's tears as they gave vent to the emotions of the moment. For a moment the world seemed to disappear as they lost themselves.

"A-hem."

Linna and Sylia both looked up to see Priss, Nene, Leon and Daley staring at them. Nene quickly looking away while Priss stood with her arms folded in front of her, her head cocked a bit to the side. Leon's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head, while Daley just looked amused.

"Well," Daley finally said as he broke the awkward silence, "It looks like I'm no longer the token homosexual around here."

"My god..." Nene mumbled under her breath, too shocked to know exactly how to react. Priss looked from the blond back over to her other two team members.

"So..." she asked with a smirk, "Sylia, Linna; care to share anything with the rest of the class?"

-To Be Continued-


	7. Chapter 7

-One Step at a Time-

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

------

Sylia used a wire hookup from her hardsuit to Linna's in order to power her armor up enough for her to return to the layer. They arrived first, Nene and Priss arriving shortly thereafter. Sylia warily allowed her suit to flow off her and walked to her locker, Linna following behind her. As the leader of the Knight Sabers finished dressing, she looked over at Nene. The blonde had been strangely quiet the entire way back, and Sylia was worried about any injuries she might've incurred while out on the field. As she stood before one of the lockers pulling up her panties, Sylia came over.

"Nene, how's your side?" she asked as she was now able to get a good look at the black and blue marks left behind when the youngest Knight Saber had been knocked into the girder. As Nene was putting her bra back on, Sylia gently took her wrist and began to raise her arm as she placed the fingers of her other hand at the base of the blonde's ribcage to see if she'd cracked any of her ribs, "Tell me if this hurts and I'll..." she was cut off as Nene let out a shriek, pulling away from her and backing into the locker behind her.

"Nene!" Linna gasped as she came over, "What's wrong?"

"N... Nothing," she answered as she stared at the floor, "I... guess I'm ticklish," she added as she tried to use her arms to cover herself in front of the two. Priss, observing the scene from a few lockers away, came over.

"Nene," she said tactfully, "I'm going to the hospital where Daley took Leon. You can ride with me and get looked at if you want."

"Ride with you?" Nene asked, "On your motorcycle? The way you ride?"

"Well," Priss smirked, "It's either that or Sylia could..."

"Okay, I'll go with you," the blonde answered quickly.

"Good. Get dressed and wait for me upstairs."

Nene quickly did as she was told, putting her street clothes on and heading for the elevator. As the elevator door opened, Sylia called after her, "Nene, there's a mandatory meeting tomorrow evening at eight. I expect you to be there."

Nene didn't answer her. She looked away as the doors closed and the elevator began its ascent. Priss meanwhile turned to Sylia and Linna, her thoughts once again returning to how she screwed up. "Sorry," she mumbled uncomfortably. Linna walked over to her.

"It's okay," she answered, "You were there when it counted."

"Besides," Sylia added as she gazed at the elevator doors Nene had just passed through, "Something tells me we have a more immediate concern." She then turned her attention back to Priss, "You're taking this all rather well."

Priss shrugged, "I'm a singer," she replied a bit nonchalantly, "I've played in bands with musicians who were gay, and I've been approached by more than one female fan. Besides," she said with a smirk as she looked back over to Linna, "I had country girl here pretty much pegged shortly after she joined the team."

Linna blushed, "Was I really that obvious?" she asked.

"A bit," she answered as she turned towards the elevator, "I suppose I should go take Little Miss Cyberpunk to the ER to get her ribs looked at," she said as she headed over and pressed the up button. As the doors opened, she got in, turning back to her two teammates.

"Give Nene some time. It'll work out," she said as the doors closed and the elevator headed up. Linna stared at the elevator thinking about what Priss had said. She wanted to believe that things would work out, but what if they didn't? The last thing she wanted was for her relationship with Sylia to hurt the team.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a pair of arms encircled her from behind. She closed her eyes as she placed her hands over Sylia's, leaning back into her love's embrace as they interlinked their fingers together. For a moment she forgot about the night's misadventures as she enjoyed the sweet sensations of intimacy and safety in those strong yet gentle arms around her.

She turned around, and saw a tear forming once again in the corner of her leader's eye, "Sylia," she asked as she cupped the older woman's cheek, "Sylia, what's wrong?"

Sylia looked into Linna's eyes with a pained expression, "I thought you were dead," she whispered, "I saw you lying there on the ground and I... I..."

She quickly pulled Sylia over to her, holding her tightly as she started to weep on her shoulder. She began to run her slender fingers through her soft silvery hair. The scene would've been unthinkable not too long ago; Sylia Stingray did not show weakness in front of others, and she certainly did not cry in front of people. For her to do so now, when she and Linna were alone, was a sign of loving trust that was not lost on the younger Knight Saber.

"It's alright," she said softly as she continued to hold her, "I'm alright Sylia. You saved me," she added as she placed her index finger under her chin and tilted her head up. She kissed Sylia on the forehead as she looked into her beautiful grey eyes, "How's your headache doing?"

Sylia looked sadly back at her, "Not so good," she admitted, adding, "I'm afraid I'm not going to be much company tonight. At least not like last night; I'm exhausted."

Linna smiled sweetly, "It's okay," she reassured as she kissed her tenderly, "I'm a bit worn out and sore myself. We can just go to your bed and lie together, if you'd like."

Sylia smiled as Linna brought her hand up to wipe the tears from her eyes, "I'd like that," she answered wearily as she kissed her back. She joined hands with Linna and together they headed for the elevator. As they stepped on, she turned back to her, "Linna?"

"Yes?" she asked.

"Could... Could you say it again?" she asked, "Please?"

Linna gazed at her leader silently for a moment before coming closer to her. "Of course," she said tenderly as she leaned in, "I love you."

Their lips came together once again as the elevator doors closed.

A short time later both women lay in Sylia's bed with Linna's arms wrapped around Sylia as the leader of the Knight Sabers closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Elsewhere in the city that night, a boomer receptionist in an ER waiting room was being given a hard time by a biker who wanted to know what her boyfriend's condition was and why her blonde friend had yet to be looked at by a doctor.

-The Next Day-

Nene sat in front of her computer terminal as she absentmindedly ate a bag of chips. When she finally got in to see the doctor last night, she was told she just had two bruised ribs and to be careful for a few days. She looked over to her right where a green disc lay amongst a pile of other such computer discs. As she turned to reach for it, her torso tilted just right for her to grimace in pain.

"Ow," she whimpered as she grabbed the disc and slid it into her computer terminal. Sitting back in her seat, her mind once again returned involuntarily to last night and the... the kiss. There was Sylia and Linna kissing one another in front of everybody. She'd been a bit suspicious of Linna of course, and the way Sylia sometimes acted around her customers and the other Knight Sabers Nene realized she shouldn't be too surprised that she would date a woman.

So why was she so uncomfortable around her two teammates all of a sudden?

"Hey kiddo, you okay?"

Nene looked up to see Daley, smartly dressed as always, smiling down at her. "Okay, I guess," she answered unconvincingly. He studied her silently a few seconds before he turned to his right and grab an empty chair, bringing it over so he could sit next to her.

"Are you sure?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Nene nodded. She then looked around with a puzzled look, "Where's Leon poo?"

"After last night's adventure he's out due to his shoulder injury," he explained, adding "But he'll be able to make it to Sylia's little get together tonight."

"He's going to be there?" the blonde asked.

"We both are," Daley said, "I think she and Linna wish to address what happened last night."

Nene looked away from him, "Daley," she asked apprehensively, "What do you make of all this? I mean, Linna and Sylia..."

"Hmmm... Well Linna's a very sweet girl, and as far as Sylia goes other than her penchant for hijacking police helicopters I don't really..."

"I'm serious!" Nene grumbled, "I mean I..." she paused as she lowered her voice nervously, "I've undressed around them. And yesterday Sylia..."

Daley let out a groan, "Nene," he asked, "You and Linna landed from orbit on a small island in the Pacific, right?"

"Urgh, don't remind me. We were on that stupid thing for two weeks with no clothes, surrounded by nothing but water and mean old clams."

"Mean old clams?" Daley asked with a raised eyebrow. He quickly shook his head, "Whatever. Look, you two were all alone on an island together naked for two weeks, right?"

"Yeah," she answered nervously, wondering where Daley was going with all this.

"And during all that time you two were on that island alone and naked, did she ever try to make a pass at you?"

Nene looked at him silently for a few seconds before she looked down at her hands. "No," she finally admitted.

"And in all the time you've known Sylia, has she ever tried to take advantage of you?"

"Well, she sometimes acts flirty..."

"Nene, she flirts with everybody. Hell, she even flirts with **me**. You should know better by now than to take her seriously."

Nene continued to look down at her hands as Daley let out a sigh, "Nene," he said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "This may come as a shock to you, but gay people aren't out to convert all straight people into being gay too."

"I know," the blonde muttered, "It still feels weird though."

"I know it does," he answered sympathetically as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Just try to remember though; they're still the same Sylia and Linna. They're still your friends. They're just dating one another now. Besides," he said, lowering his voice as he leaned over to her so no one else could hear, "Weren't you the one who said the Knight Sabers stick together?"

With that he stood up from his seat. As Nene watched in silence, he put the chair back and left the AD Police computer control room. She looked back at her computer screen as she thought of what he'd said before an idea popped into her head. She immediately began a search through various search engines, smiling to herself as she came upon a foreign website...

------

"Me?" Leon asked as Priss came in with two sandwiches on paper plates, "Why would Sylia want me to come with you tonight?"

"She probably wants to address what happened last night," Priss said as she put the two plates on the coffee table in front of the couch Leon was sitting on. As she turned back to the kitchen to get them both something to drink she added, "After all, last night kind of took everyone by surprise."

"I'll say," he answered as he grabbed one of the sandwiches and bit into it, "I mean, Sylia and... **Blech!**" he exclaimed as he made a face, "What in the hell is this? It tastes like mustard and horseradish."

"It _is_ mustard and horseradish," Priss answered with a smirk as she came back into Leon's living room, "You just took a bite out of mine; yours is over there."

"Yuck," he said as Priss handed him his beer and sat next to him, "How can you stand that?"

"Meh, it's an acquired taste," she answered with a shrug. More seriously she added, "How's your shoulder?"

"Hurts like hell," he grumbled as he reached up to once again readjust the sling his arm was resting in, "I took some of those stupid pain killers the doctor prescribed, but it still throbs..." he stopped when he noticed the look of amusement on Priss' face, "Alright, what's so funny?"

"Just that I'm supposed to be the woman in the relationship, and you're whining way more about your arm than I ever did about mine." she answered.

"Oh har, har."

"Seriously though," Priss said, "I think Sylia and Linna want everyone there tonight so they can clear the air. The fact they're seeing one another wasn't exactly revealed under ideal circumstances after all," she added as she bit into her sandwich.

"Yeah, I'll say." Leon muttered, "And I wasn't whining."

"Oh, poor Leon," Priss teased as she leaned over towards the AD Police officer. Their lips came together as she closed her eyes. A few seconds later, Leon pulled back with a grimace.

"Ugh," he griped, "Next time you eat one of those things, brush your teeth before kissing me."

Priss chuckled a bit as Leon tried to use his beer to wash the taste of horseradish and mustard out of his mouth.

-Evening-

Nene arrived at the Silky Doll, gingerly getting off her scooter as she tried not to upset her injury again. She picked up her backpack and headed for the door, where she was greeted by Henderson. She followed him to the elevator, watching silently as he pushed the down button.

"Henderson," she asked, "Is Priss here yet?"

"Yes," the butler answered, adding, "As are Master Mackie and Officers Daley Wong and Leon McNichol."

"Mackie is going to be there too?" she asked.

"Of course," Henderson said, "And so will I."

The elevator stopped and Nene followed him to the large dining table where the others were already sitting. Mackie looked over at the blonde and smiled as he offered the seat next to him. She went to sit down as Henderson left to go into the kitchen.

"Hey Mackie," Nene said as she carefully set her backpack down and sat beside him.

"Hey Nene," Mackie answered, "Do you know what tonight's meeting is about?"

Nene looked a bit surprised, "Sylia didn't tell you?"

"No," he said as he shook his head, "Sis only told me she wanted to explain something to me tonight along with everyone else."

Leon started to snicker, "Oh, this is going to be good," he whispered to Priss out of the corner of his mouth, "The shock will probably send him rogue... Ow!" he yelped as she pinched him hard in the side.

As Henderson came in from the kitchen to pour coffee for everyone, the elevator doors opened again and Sylia entered the room, followed by Linna. As the younger woman took a seat, the leader of the Knight Sabers turned to her butler.

"Henderson," she began, "Could... Could you please take a seat?"

The butler looked at her questioningly, "Madam?"

"Please," she repeated as she motioned to an empty seat next to Daley. As he sat down, Sylia stood in front of the seated group like a chairman of the board addressing shareholders, "Alright, as you all know yesterday the battery in Linna's suit failed, causing me to go out under less than ideal circumstances." She looked down at Linna, both women exchanging glances before she looked back up and continued, "And, with the exception of Mackie and Henderson, most of you were also there for the night's... other incident."

"Other incident?" Mackie asked. Daley held his finger up to his mouth to let the young boomer know to be quiet as Sylia took a deep breath and continued.

"Over the last few weeks, during my recovery, Linna has been there for me more than anyone. And in the process of helping me, something happened," she said as she held out her hand to Linna, who reached up and took it tenderly in hers, "We fell in love."

Linna stood up nervously as she now spoke, "I... I realize this comes as a bit of a shock," she said, her eyes involuntarily glancing over to Nene, "But as far as the team goes, this changes nothing. Sylia is still the leader of the Knight Sabers, and I don't expect any special treatment from her or any of you," she quickly added.

"Now then," Sylia said as she eyed the faces looking at her and Linna, "Any questions or comments?"

"Just one," Daley spoke up, "How public do the two of you plan on being about this?"

The two women looked at one another again before Sylia answered, "I think I speak for us both when I say that everyone who really needs to know we're dating is in this room."

"If she moves in," Mackie asked, "Will she be getting my bedroom?"

"We'd probably share the same room," Linna answered before blushing profusely at what she'd just said.

"Oh. Okay," Mackie said with a smile, "In that case, congratulations."

"Thank you," Sylia said before turning to her trusted butler, "Henderson?" she asked.

"Madam," the old man answered, "It's hard enough for anyone to find love nowadays. If you've found it with the charming Miss Yamazaki, then of course I'm happy for the both of you."

Sylia smiled warmly at him, "Thank you." Everyone's eyes now came to focus uncomfortably on the young blonde sitting next to Mackie. Nene could feel their silent stares as she took a deep breath and turned to address her leader.

"Sylia," she began, "I... I never really knew any gay people where I grew up. I mean, of course I heard plenty of jokes growing up in school, but..." her voice died off as she thought of the right words, "Last night, when I hurt myself, you tried to check up on me to see if I was okay, and I freaked. But after talking with Daley at work today I... I guess I want to apologize for last night. I mean, this is going to take some getting used to, but you're both still my friends, and we're still Knight Sabers, which means we stick together."

Sylia allowed a smile to slowly appear, "Thank you," she said softly, "That means a lot to us Nene. And we understand that it's going to take some time, for you as well as everyone else."

"Thanks Sylia, I... Oh, I almost forgot!" she said as she carefully reached for her backpack, "I felt bad about how I acted yesterday, and I wanted to make it up to both of you. I did some research online to see what sort of gift one should give to two women who have started dating, and a foreign website suggested this," she said as she pulled out a gift wrapped box. She stood up and passed it over to Sylia.

"Nene," Sylia said, visibly taken aback by the kind gesture, "I... I don't know what to say..."

"Well I do," Priss chimed in, "Open it!"

Sylia smirked at the remark as she ripped at the gift wrap, "This really wasn't necessary, I..." her voice died off as she got a look at the gift. "A toaster?" she asked, exchanging a confused look with Linna.

"I don't get it either," Nene admitted, "But according to the foreign site I logged onto, it's some sort of traditional lesbian gift."

"That's what you get for getting gift-buying ideas from gaijin," Priss quipped. Nene turned to the singer and stuck her tongue out at her, the tension in the room evaporating as everyone began to laugh.

An hour later, as the last guest left, Henderson cleared the table of the coffee cups and straightened out the linen. He then turned to Sylia, "Will there be anything else, madam?"

"No," she answered, adding with a smile, "Thank you."

The butler returned the smile as he bowed to her. He then turned to the elevator and left, leaving Sylia and Linna alone in the room together. As the older woman turned around, she saw her fellow Knight Saber examining the toaster.

"Well," Linna began, "I still don't get it, but at least it appears to be a top of the line model. You can toast up to four slices of bread at a time," she said as she read the side of the box. Sylia came over and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Linna," she said as she leaned toward the younger woman, "Remember last night when all we did was sleep because I was feeling so lousy?"

"Yeah," she answered as she put the box back down on the table, "Why?"

"I don't have a headache tonight," she purred in a sultry voice that made Linna's hair stand on end. Their lips came together as they tenderly explored each other's mouths. After a few minutes their lips separated, both women gazing lovingly at the other.

Finally, Sylia held out her hand. Linna smiled ever so slightly as she took it, leaning her head on her love's shoulder as they headed for Sylia's bedroom.

-Finis-

End Notes- The joke with the toaster is that supposedly whenever someone converts somebody into becoming a lesbian, they get a toaster. It originated in an episode of Ellen and has reappeared several times since.


End file.
